JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar here Wednesday officiated at ceremony marking the introduction of e-passports. The use of e-passports, which could not be faked, would increase security of the immigration documents, Minister Patrialis said.

The new E-passport will have an electronic chip embedded inside the book for a more accurate identification process. The electronic-based information technology adopts and follows the security standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

As the use of e-passports are still in trial process, the request of the new e-passports could be made at the Central Jakarta immigration center, the West Jakarta First Class immigration, and the Soekarno-Hatta First Class Immigration. The ministry soon launched the use of E-passports, as Indonesia lags behind its neighboring countries on the form of passport that will be used worldwide by 2015.

So far, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are among the Southeast Asian countries that have started issuing E-passports. A number of nations in other parts of the world have also already adopted the system. The application for an e-passport is more expensive than the conventional one because of the high-tech chip.

The 48-page e-passport will cost Rp655,000, while the 24-page will be Rp405,000. The conventional passport or the one using biometric system is cost Rp255,000 for 48 pages, and Rp105,000 for 24 pages. The immigration department will prepare 10,000 E-passports in its initial phase, available in immigration offices in Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.

The minister said recently that issuing e-passports on a trial basis was in line with Government Regulation (PP) No. 38/2009. It is permissible under the provisions of the international agreement to apply the e-passport system worldwide by 2015. The application process for the new passports will take approximately four days, the minister said earlier.